This invention relates to log splitting wedges and specifically to splitting wedges for quartering logs.
Wedges have long been employed in the logging art for both splitting logs and holding open a saw kerf to prevent the sides of the kerf from pinching a saw. Typically, such wedges include a sharp chisel edge for penetrating the log and a blunt end which receives driving impulses from a suitable means such as a sledge hammer. However, a wedge which effectively quarters logs when driven into an end thereof has heretofore been unknown in the logging art.
Various industrial log splitters such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,867 to Butas, Jr. employ pairs of perpendicularly disposed knife blades for quartering logs. However, such pairs of blades are approximately of equal thickness and not suitable for the quartering of logs by use of a sledge hammer as described hereinabove but rather require power means, such as hydraulic rams to drive the logs into the knife blades.
Sometimes, as a logging wedge is being driven into a very resilient log of high lubricity a slightly off center blow by a sledge results in the wedge being dislodged and forcibly propelled through the air with risk of serious injury to the user or others in the vicinity. In an effort to prevent such occurrences, cross wedges such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,286,586 to Starks have been developed. Cross wedges such as that shown in the Starks Patent and in Austrian Patentschrift No. 185,266 comprise a pair of wedges, the sharpened edges of which are disposed at right angles with respect to each other. Although, the cross wedge may obviate the aforementioned occurrences, it will be appreciated that a great deal of force is required to achieve log quartering with such wedges.
Also taught in the prior art is a winged logging wedge disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,515,372 to Courville. The Courville wedge functions to prevent a log being sawed from rolling into a twist. This wedge includes a relatively thick wedge body having a chisel edge and a pair of transverse wings extending slightly forwardly from the wedge body. The wings are of a surface area and geometry unsuitable for log quartering, since among other factors their leading edges lie in a plane parallel to a plane containing the leading edge of the wedge.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a log quartering wedge which overcomes the drawbacks of the wedges heretofore available.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a log quartering wedge wherein any tendency for the wedge to be canted or dislodged is minimized as the wedge is being driven into a log.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a log quartering wedge which is essentially incapable of being forced out of a log under the influence of the resilience or the lubricity of the wood.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a log quartering wedge which may be easily used with relative safety by one having little or no special skill in log splitting.